


And Time, Only Time...

by roguefaerie (samidha)



Category: Black Sails
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Anatomy of a Pirate, Becoming a Pirate, Before Flint is Flint, Bisexual Character, Bisexual Miranda Barlow, Boston Will Not Save You, Canon Queer Character, F/F, F/M, Friendship, James McGraw - Freeform, M/M, Miranda Barlow Appreciation, Multi, Non-Explicit, Non-Monogamy, One of My Favorites, POV Miranda Barlow, Polyamory, Queer Character, Queer Miranda Barlow, Queer People Making it Work, Queer Themes, biromantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-30 21:00:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12117141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samidha/pseuds/roguefaerie
Summary: A place of their own, for as long as they can have it.





	And Time, Only Time...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sirensnares](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sirensnares/gifts).



> I've been trying to write this fic for the longest time, like ever since Black Sails season 2. I hope it passes muster. It isn't quite exactly as I imagined it when I was taking notes, but it is covering the material that I wanted to.

When she sees James McGraw, she is not a ninny with a heart going a mile a minute. She is a lady, one who is allowed the benefit of culture and knows exactly what is proper in this situation.

He is smart in his uniform and smiles in her direction, measured but definite.

She immediately thinks of Thomas.

Her sweet Thomas.

They had an agreement, you see, always, to keep each other safe, and this is what they had been doing all these many years.

*~*~*

“I am as restless as the sea,” Thomas whispers to her when they are in their room, touching but barely.

“I know, my dear,” she whispers back.

“I love that you know. Miranda, you are my safe haven. Never forget this.”

And she won’t, won’t forget that day in January with the rain pelting down and the bedroom dark, the way when she reached for his hand he took hers.

*~*~*

She regards how easy it is to invite the Navy man into her carriage. It is almost as if when she thinks much of Thomas he can see her lonely husband behind her eyes.

The carriage arrives and Thomas is in the yard. Instead of meeting them, he retreats a bit to the porch, nervous and wanting to keep prying eyes away from his interactions with her, she knows. They are known as private in their dealings, not so many parties and lavish shows of affection. There are whispers, but overall they weather the storm together, knowing that at the end of the day there is love, and that she and Thomas ultimately have something quite coveted--the best of friendships created in their mutual predicament.

Miranda thinks quietly on the lonely days of those she left behind in order to enter into this arrangement with Thomas, one of deep caring and affection but lacking, and she thinks how the ocean tides move away and it is like the moment when her dearest Harriet had said, “You must go with him and save one of us.” And so she had.

James McGraw surveys the two of them and as he does, Miranda moves closer to him, just the fraction of a step, leans in. And there is that boyish smile again, boyish and knowing and open all at once.

He joins them for tea.

*~*~*

“I heard that your lodgings were leaving a bit to be desired, Mr. McGraw,” she says, her words pointed. But they are alone now, and have been engaging in tea regularly since his arrival. This is her home and Thomas has never disallowed her from speaking freely within these walls.

James McGraw gives her a look that does not hide his hunger.

“We would love for you to consider this a safe place for you in the event you would wish to look for alternate lodgings.”

Thomas looks up at him, no longer studying his plate. When their eyes meet, she sees their gazes lock, hunger and loneliness and fear meeting together and--

She picks up her teacup and plate and discreetly leaves the room.

*~*~*

When she looks at McGraw she wonders if she will see the same hunger and finds it there, perhaps not as ravenous as the way he looks at Thomas, but present enough that she knows she chose well indeed. Someone who desires her is a beautiful bonus in this bargain and it is one she will see to enjoy should the moment arise.

*~*~*

Thomas is showing James the paneling in the bedroom when she comes to stand in the doorway.

“Oh, my dear, do come and tell James what an ordeal it was to add this lovely detail.”

Miranda hesitates a bit, and then steps resolutely into the bedroom. “Yes. Yes, indeed it was.”

She looks into James’ eyes to see what she will find there.

What she finds is beautiful.

*~*~*

They lie above the covers, limb entwined with limb, three of them entrusted in this small space that is theirs. She looks at Thomas, testing, gently assessing the feeling in the room before she allows herself to lean forward and accept a tentative kiss from James.

“Ours now,” Thomas says with pride. “We have waited a lifetime and now I see that it is all wonderful this way.” And James moves closer, taking Thomas’ lips hungrily with his own.

*~*~*

“Will you have me?” she asks James gently some hours later, when finally, finally, Thomas is spent and sleeping the sleep of the sated.

“When it is most wanted, and only then.”

“That would be as you deserve. As you both deserve.”

“Thomas feels the same, I know he does,” James says.

“He does, and yet it is sometimes not enough. There are things one needs, you see, at times at least, and Thomas…”

“He has been too long denied. I will keep his secret well.”

 

And the secret was deftly kept, James proving his loyalty again and again, his agility in avoiding exactly the right political quagmires that would cause problems in London or Boston.

But sometimes it is only time that can know how things will proceed.

Sometimes, no matter how much you feel you may wrest control, it is not to be, not for folk of the sea as McGraw is.

And so control is lost. Desire takes hold and hiding becomes impossible, too much to bear. A servant will know, and though they are quiet, quiet, quiet in their bed they all wish to yell to the heavens that this is it, this is love as it should be, with all the give and take and compromise and the waiting over--over.

And so they are seen, something is seen, years later, though it is never revealed what tips the scales. Thomas and James are suddenly seen not as best friends but something more, something sinister and devillish that must be stopped. And though she loves them both in equal measure, she is seen as innocent bystander now, spurned wife. 

“Please, Thomas.”

“Take the freedom that is being offered to you. You are not implicated,” he whispers harshly, and they are some of the last words he is able to speak to her before he is taken.

There are twin holes in her heart and the memory of Harriet whistles through them.

*~*~*

James comes for her. It is night and his ship is ready. His face is twisted by grief and he murmurs, “I will be as you need me to be in these times but we must go. The sea is open and I can sail her. I will take you. Away from here.”

Her chest is ripping open with grief and pain but she nods, remembering Thomas’ wish for her to be free.

And she takes James’ hand, who in his grief shall become Flint, and she his wife, mother and lover in all the years to come.

**Author's Note:**

> Music for this piece (if you want to go find it, unsure if I can link it):  
> Damien Rice - Older Chests  
> Damien Rice - Delicate  
> Iron and Wine - Naked as We Came


End file.
